THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
OBITUARIES
Journalist, JTA Editor Emeritus
Boris Smolar, Covered World Events
.
New York (JTA) — Boris
tine, during the pre-state years.
He reported on the Arab riots in
Palestine in 1929, and knew all
the major Zionist leaders, in-
cluding Chaim Weizmann and
Vladimir Jabotinsky. In 1940,
Mr. Smolar provided an af-
fidavit by which the late
Jabotinsky's son, Eri, and his
fiance, were able to leave Nazi
occupied France.
Smolar, the former editor-in-
chief of the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency, whose coverage of world
Jewry for more than 60 years
set a standard of excellence in
Jewish jounialism,'died Jan. 31.
He was 88.
Mr. Smolar was predeceased
by his wife of 50 years, Genia
Smolar, a former executive in
the pre-war Jewish community
of Berlin, who also died last
Friday, just 15 hours before her
husband's death.
Mr. Smolar's career as a jour-
nalist and advocate of Jewish
c auses placed him amid some of
the most crucial and significant
events of world Jewry in the
20th Century, including the
United Nations' 1947 decision to
accept partition of Palestine
leading to the creation of a
Jewish state.
Born in 1897 in the Ukrai-
nian village of Rovno, Mr. Smo-
lar came to the United States in
1919 after serving in the Rus-
sian Army in World War I and
as a member of the Rovno Relief
Committee, helping Jewish ref-
ugees fleeing the war zone in
Russia.
He was graduated from the
Haven School in Chicago, went
on to study at the Medill School
of Journalism at Northwestern
University, while at the same
time working on the editorial
staff of the Chicago Jewish
ally Forward until 1924. At
this time he joined the JTA.
Mr. Smolar became the JTA's,
European correspondent, and a
roving reporter of the New York
World, the paper published by
Joseph Pulitzer. His JTA dis-
patches were widely featured in
t he general press, and the
Anglo-Jewish and Yiddish press.
In 1928, he was named editor-
n - chief of the JTA, a post he
eld until retiring in 1967.
In 1928, Mr. Smolar succeeded
n securing permission from the
• oviet government to establish a
TA office in Moscow. He be-
ame the first JTA correspon-
' ent there, accredited by the
oviet Foreign Commissariat,
roviding a much needed
'peline of information on the
ifestyles and problems facing
oviet Jewry.. Only six Ameri-
an correspondents were permit-
ed at that time in the Soviet
nion.
In his role as objective re-
orter and advocate of Jewish
oncerns, Mr. Smolar also made
ews. In 1928, for example, he
ntervened with Soviet
uthorities to get. Saadieh
azch, son , of the late Chief
abbi of Moscow, Jacob Mazch,
ut of jail, and later, along with
is wife and family,' out of Rus-
ts.,
In another incident,
in 1930,
-.
4 rabbis were arrested in
insk, only to be rleased soon
hereafter after Mr. .Sinolar's in-
ervention. Mr. Smolar person-
lly met with the Commisar for
eligious Affairs, Peter
• midevich, and it was later de-
ided by the Jewish section of
he Russian Communist Party,
he Yevseksia, .that Jewish ag-
icultural workers would be
Mr. Smolar was the author of
numerous books published in
Yiddish and Hebrew. He was
the recipient of numerous cita-
tions, awards and medals.
Boris Smolar
allowed to do their one day of
free collective service on a
different day other than the
scheduled date of Yom Kippur
in 1930.
But Mr. Smolar took particu-
lar pride in his personal inter-
vention regarding the miserable
conditions of the "declassed"
Jews in Russia who were de-
prived of their rights under a
decree by Stalin. His dispatches
on the "declassed" Jews led to
intervention from U.S. officials
and others leading to a reversal
of the policy order, and the later
elimination of the Yevseksia.
Mr. Smolar also spent years
covering the situation in Pales-
He was involved in numerous
Jewish organizations including
the American Jewish Joint Dis-
tribution Committee, the
American ORT Federation, the
YIVO Institute • for Jewish Re-
search. In 1972, the Council of
Jewish Federations established
in his honor the Smolar Award
for Excellence in Jewish Jour-
nalism.
Mr. Smolar retired from his
post as editor-in-chief of the
JTA in 1967, and was named
editor-in-chief emeritus. He con-
tinued to write his weekly col-
umn, "Between You and Me,"
syndicated by the JTA, until
about a month ago. He also
wrote a column for the Jewish
Daily Forward.
Smolar: Friend, Associate
A Tribute
BY PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Boris Smolar is a name that
became synonymous with Global
Jewish Journalist Number One.
His passing is an irreparable
loss to Jewry.
His name will be inerasable
in Jewish literary history.
Boris Smolar's journalistic
beat was the world Jewish
community. Wherever he went
he also left an indelible mark as
a. Jewish activist humanely in-
spired to relieve want, to strive
for justice for his people, to
enlighten government officials
on the status of his fellow Jews
and to seek improvement and
succor. This was true
everywhere, in the Soviet Union
where he reached into high
quarters with his appeals for
antagonized Jews; in pre-war
Germany, in Romania, the Mid-
dle East and in the Jewish
Yishuv in Palestine and thence-
forth Israel.
In the process he befriended
leaders and the heads of the
world Jewish communities be-
came his friends and associates
in major causes
That is how the Warburgs and
Strauses and Habers, et al, had
come to consult him on major
Jewish issues. That is how he
became the unofficial diplomat
and emissary, the adviser and
guide.
Also in that process he be-
came the interpreter and
evaluator of the major Jewish
rehabilitation and relief move-
ments as well as the reconstruc-
tion in Israel. His columns be-
came clarion calls to action for
the many causes in which he
became the dedicated activist.
United Jewish Appeal, Ameri-
can Jewish Committee, ORT, a
score of other causes thus
counted him as their most effec-
tive propagator.
His Zionist devotion was espe-
cially expressed in his deep de
votion to the Jewish National
Fund. His recent gifts to JNF,
the forest in Israel he and his
Genia planted were their ex-
pressions of loyalty to a cause
and enrollment in tasks for Is-
rael's upbuilding.
His Genia's death occurred
only 15 hours before his. There
is a deeply moving effect of
Boris's attachment to Genia that
is almost providential. Gpnia
had a genius all" her own. She
was not in the limelight, yet she
had a genius for letterwriting
and her correspondence was
cherished by Israeli and Ameri-
can leaders. She became bedrid-
den and Boris devoted his entire
time, his very life to her. In the
frequent telephone conversa-
tions I had with him in the past
years his comment on his own
and Genie's state of health was:
"I want to live one hour after
Genie." It was his constant way
of saying that his life's aim had
become to provide the protection
his ailing wife needed. His wish
was fulfilled.
The world Jewish com-
munities will miss .him, Jewish
leaders will miss him. For me it
is the loss of the dearest friend
and most cheished professional
associate.
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Friday, February 7, 1986 85